hey there im looking to buy a new comp.

i have all the components picked up but the video card and mobo i need some help on.

First i was going to buy the eVGA "knockout" edition 8800gts
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130337
But then i noticed that it supported PCIe 2.0 and had no idea what that was.

I was going to buy the GA-EP35-DS3R mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128086
but i didnt see anything about PCIe 2.0

essentially,
1. is this video card worth getting or is something else comparable.
2. is PCIe 2.0 a big thing and what mobos support this if it is
3. since i have no idea about this stuff, help me pick a video card/mobo combo.

i just want to play FPS games and age of conan without lagging

thanks

PCI-e 2.0 is the newest version out, and it is backwards compatible with PCI-e x16. So any 2.0 cards will work with x16 PCI-e slots.

From what I remember, the differences between PCI-E x16 and PCI-E 2.0 are increased bandwidth and and increased power through the PCI-E bus. I know the extra bandwidth in PCI-E 2.0 is useful as that was a limiting and crippling aspect of the HD3870 X2, it was only PCI-E x16, like v1.1 I think. So, with newer cards that are mid or high end I would think it a good idea to get a motherboard that supporst PCI-E 2.0. Your board, the GA-EP35-DS3R, only has a PCI-E x16 slot, it's not v2.0. NewEgg will list the 2.0 slots as "PCI-Express x16 2.0" rather than just "PCI-Express x16." Nix725 is right though, PCI-E 2.0 hardware is backwards compatible with PCI-E x16 slots, so your card will work in your board, it's bandwidth will just be limited by the bandwidth of the PCI-E x16 slot. However, I'm not sure if PCI-Express would limit the 8800GTS, not sure if it pushes that much bandwidth to need PCI-E 2.0. I also can not recommend a good board with PCI-E 2.0 as I don't have much experience with Intel boards/chipsets. I'd take somebody elses advice on that one.

--Arson94

hmm maybe i should forgo buying a whole new system and just simply buy a new vid card for now.

i currently have this as my system

Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E4300 - Retail

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

M-AUDIO Revolution 5.1 5.1 Channels PCI Interface High-Definition Sound Card - Retail

MSI P6N SLI-FI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model

EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

but i get about 30fps in age of conan right now and i really hate choppiness.

i wonder if simply buying this videocard upgrade would be enough. because i was going to just buy a whole new system but now that i think of it, my current one really isnt all that old.

i was going to get
E8400 3.0ghz chip
new mobo (no idea what one though)
and a new PSU

thats all i was really going to get anyways.

anyone know if overclocking my current processor would be enough to run well with a newer video card like the one i posted?

I know for sure that your video card is the weakest link in your system right now. Given my lack of experience with Intel CPU's, I don't know how far you can OC that CPU, but if you any kind of decent OC on it then it definitely wouldn't be the bottleneck. I mean as long as your current PSU can handle it, a new video card and OC'ing your current CPU should work out nicely. You'll need an aftermarket CPU cooler though if you're still using the stock cooler. the 650i chipset I wouldn't think would hold you back so you're board should hold steady. I mean the only other thing to consider would be more RAM but you're probably not having any problems with that. As long as AoC isn't using all your RAM when it's running then you'll be fine in that respect too. I wish I could give you more specific answers, but I don't see why a new video card and a CPU OC wouldn't do the trick for you. But please, see if some Intel/Nvidia users with experience will respond first before taking any of my advice.

--Arson94

ya i figured the vid card was the weak link. i originally built the system as part of a home music studio and tried to water down the gaming capabilities to help keep me away from gaming all together. That didnt really work and now im craving some serious gaming, so time to beef the comp up a bit hehe.

For Age Of Conan you need quad core like Q6600
Get Asus 8800GTS(512) graphic card for 205$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121218
I have mine OC'd to 765/1910/1100 even much much more than KO version from eVGA
For mobo I advise you to get the latest X48 mobo with DDR2 support not DDR3 such as Asus rampage Formula. It comes at 300$ but it worth it, and this the only part that you'll not upgrade for 3-4 years

Uh oh. I see the start of an addiction. Time for GA.